Botanical Names Explained

Since 1753 plants have had two names. The Genus and species name which used together give a plant its botanical name.

Swainsona formosa Sturt’s desert pea. Image by author.

Around the world botanists, environmentalists, plant nurseries and keen gardeners use a binomial system of naming plants, that is, two names, a Genus and a species name. The system was developed and introduced by Carolus Linnaeus, a Swedish botanist and is called the Linnaean system of binomial nomenclature.

He published his Species Plantarum in 1753 which was the first publication to name plants exclusively with the binomial system. This publication and the date 1st May 1753 are the base line for naming plants and for a plant name to be valid it needs to either be in the Species Plantarum or named and published since then (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2021).

The International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants (2018) regulates the scientific naming of all organisms traditionally treated as algae, fungi, or plants.

Bust of Carolus Linnaeus with Rudbeckia deamii black eyed Susan in the Adelaide Botanic Gardens. Image by author.

Now we have plant names like Eucaylptus camaldulensis. This is probably Australia’s most well-known tree and certainly the widest spread in…